I got a DWAI (driving while ability impaired) a little over 21 years ago. The difference between a DWAI and a DUI (driving under the influence) here in Colorado is, minimum blood alcohol content for a DWAI is .05% and the DUI BAC minimum is .08%, as it is in most states - some might still be .10%.

There are a number of factors that affect BAC including body weight, food consumption and metabolism. It is possible for a skinny guy chugging a single 12 ounce beer on an empty stomach to blow over .05 BAC within a very short period of time following chugging that beer.

My first (and only) DWAI conviction resulted in a sentence of over $600 in fines and court costs, 9 hours of AA orientation, 40 hours of alcohol education (at $15/hour), 24 hours of community service, and 3 days in the county correctional facility (jail). Add what I paid my attorney, and I could have hired a private helicopter to fly me home that night for less money.

The fines and court costs were money I didn't want to spend. The AA orientation was rather boring. The alcohol education was time consuming and expensive considering the classes consisted of one therapist talking to a group of 15-20 people once a week. I did learn a few things from the classes, like it is possible to blow a .02 BAC just from sucking on a Certs breath mint, and a short skinny guy actually blew a .07 after just one beer on an empty stomach. I chose the local zoo for my community service, figuring it might be cool to be cleaning up elephant crap just because I'd be real close to real elephants. Instead, I got to clean all 12 human bathrooms several times every day, and was part of a crew that swept up sand and salt used on the zoo roads after a snow storm rather than the zoo using their street sweepers. I hated the 3 days in jail. Being a caged animal is not acceptable to me under any circumstances... I thought (and so did my lawyer) that the three days in jail was excessive for a first offense DWAI. Looking back, I can absolutely say that those three days had a permanent impact on me.

Since then, the only time I will drink and drive is when having one beer while eating a full meal at a restaurant, and more often than not I just order soda pop instead of anything alcohol. If I want to have two or more beers, someone else is driving, and that is decided before going to the restaurant.

I would be very cautious about calling for lowering the standards for BAC than they already are considering non-alcohol product consumption can produce false-positive low level BAC readings.